beebs

17 hours ago, carolineg said:

I am not at all ashamed to say I may look that up on you tube today. 

I think Lynn Herring suffered the most from that shuffle.  Lisanne was a mess of a character.  Plus I think CC gave her a hard time about doing love scenes with MS?  I remember Wayne was quoted as saying 'calm down, it's acting' at the time and WN actively complained about LH's poor treatment on the set. 

Wasn't Julie in a love story with a young Dr at the time?  What was Bill Hayes doing at the time?  He couldn't have appeared on the show?

ETA: I just realized it was Jay Pickett RIP.

I am one of the few people who think Wayne could have remained on the canvas just maybe sans Marlena.  He basically left Sami hanging and I never liked that.  It just seems so un-Roman like to leave his kids.  I don't really see a love interest for him on the canvas in 1994, but I assume they could have found someone.

I actually think RKK was a good recast.  He was just a problematic person.  I don't think his actual work was bad and he had fire chemistry with Lisa Rinna.

1992 was such a mess with a bad Carrie recast, John with that Romulous diamond story, Roman's Mrs. Doubtfire story, the show toying with Lawrence/Carrie, Kayla/Shane, Hawk/Jack/Jen.  I think Isabella's death and maybe some Carly stuff are the only things that hold up.  The rest can be forgotten.  By 1993, the show just revitalized itself.  Jarlena affair, Austin/Carrie, Sami's re-introduction, bringing on Kate for Victor/Vivian, Bo/Billie, Kristen's introduction.......basically everything worked in that year. 

I actually just looked it up and of all places, any Canadian viewers can watch Never Say Never: The Deidre Hall Story (giggle) in full on CTV'S website. I doubt you'll be able to in the US, but it's worth checking out CTV.ca to be sure.

3 minutes ago, AbcNbc247 said:

Thanks for posting!

I had no idea about this either. It does sound a lot like his ego was doing the talking though. Judging from what I've read, Chris was practically front burner all through the late 70s.

Yeah, I was gonna say! Both Ann Marcus and Elizabeth Harrower wrote extensively for him, and even Nina Laemmle gave him (bad) stories, so I have absolutely no idea what he's on about. Maybe that explains the (allegedly) tense working relationship between him and Barbara Stanger.

24 minutes ago, jam6242 said:

@beebsI had completely erased that one from my memory! 

I tried but how does one completely forget such an unintentional comedy!

5 hours ago, te. said:

Imagine Days trying to do an island adventure with the current budget.

They did. And we got this...
 

Just now, Errol said:

 

Disney has mandated it for the majority of its employees and is working with unions on implementation, so essentially if an actor isn't vaccinated at the time it officially becomes a requirement for employment, they'll either comply or lose their jobs. It's unlikely any actor on the soaps will actually get fired in that I'd be surprised if any of them actually don't comply.

Even Miss Magabanus? I would be stunned if she backed down after the fuss she's put up.

For once, I think JER had the right idea never going on set and never interacting with the cast. It really does mess with your ability to centre the characters when all you see when you look at an actor is what a Dumb@$$ they are.

4 minutes ago, will81 said:

Thanks for that, I will read through them for sure. I noticed you did write ups/review style posts on the Days thread. So I might read through the synopsis and then read through your posts on the Days thread. 

Haha, oh those were a real hoot. I had to stop because SOD's writeups were too slapdash and would go into extreme detail about minutia, while flipping back and forth between stories and skipping over entire plot points. It just read like someone watched the episodes in real time and threw together the scenes they saw that seemed interesting in the moment, and didn't connect them to the larger picture of what was happening, just rushed it off to print.

Quite frankly, I got exhausted after awhile, and to be perfectly frank, the show just wasn't good enough (or train-wreck-level bad enough) by late 1980 for me to care. But I do hope you check them out. If nothing else, they're good for a laugh!

13 minutes ago, will81 said:

Oh right. I thought it was a little bit more involved than that, but then I have never read the full story, just the opinions about it. Thanks for the info. I really do need to read up more on Days post Bell and PFS. Sounds like a mess, especially Ann Marcus. I heard that Bill Bell still had to give some sort of story projections in 77-78 and Marcus ignored what he had supplied and did her own thing.

The story, as short as it is, reminds of that horrid movie Windows from 1980 with Elizabeth Ashley and Talia Shire

AM was just...so wrong for DAYS. She grossly misunderstood what the show was about, and truncated all kinds of stories that had just begun under PFS to tell very stereotypically "soapy" plots that were jarring after PFS's realism-to-a-fault approach, like dropping Sharon Duval and instead giving Marlena an "evil" twin who locks her in Bayview to get pill perscriptions. Mickey magically being cured of his mental illness and is a fully-functional lawyer again with the perfect marriage! Leaving him and Maggie to be busybodies and hand-wring over their neighbours' abusive marriage! Trish's alters magically integrate after being out for five minutes, never to be discussed again!

Like, I get really annoyed whenever a new writer comes in and completely upends every story that's happening in order to put their stamp on the show. I get that DAYS wasn't performing too well at the time, but all it needed were tweaks, and maybe a slight lightening in tone, it didn't need to completely change direction.

I'd pay close attention to the 1977 writeups @FrenchFan has posted upthread. PFS leaves in April, and by June, it's a vastly different show. 

20 minutes ago, will81 said:

Reading through the Y&R scripts and comparing with SOD Synopsis and Daytime Serial Newsletter. It is clear Bryna did the better job. It is a shame as I think Soap Opera Digest killed them off. @FrenchFan I found an article which mentions a FOURTH synopsis newsletter Daily TV Newsletter from New York. I think they all died between 76 - 78

I second the opinion that Bryna Laub did an INFINITELY better job on her synopsies vs. SOD. Reading her DAYS writeups were easy to follow, and had a quality that made you feel like it was the next best thing to watching the show. It distilled the stories concisely, while giving clear background and character motivation without being confusing, or bobbing in and out between stories like SOD does (drives me bonkers).

2 minutes ago, will81 said:

Yeah I think Bell probably didn't want to wrap Jill up in story so she would be free for the Derek Thurston 'Shampoo' style story that he wanted to tell. Which makes me think the Joann/Kay lesbian story was never going to go anywhere even if audiences were accepting of it. Bell did say if he had a gay character on the show it would more likely be a woman as he felt audiences would be more accepting of that. Though the 70's wasn't the time it seems.

I have heard more about the DOOL gay story and the backlash but little is written about Joann and Kay

But even then, DAYS' "gay" story was a quick retcon Ann Marcus concocted to quickly usher out Sharon Duval. Under PFS, Sharon was involved with Don and Marlena and was strongly hinted that Sharon was a bored, sexually frustrated society wife. Ann Marcus quickly made her a neurotic loner who lusted after the first person who gave her any positive attention (which just so happened to be Julie), and within a week, her husband came to collect her, and they vanished into thin air.

I don't think DAYS even wanted to fully flesh the character out, judging by the way Ann Marcus rushed into that reveal.

29 minutes ago, Forever8 said:

Because let's be honest Ronan wasn't that much of a character in my opinion. The long-lost son of Nina Webster should've had more going for him than generic conflicted hero. 

Too bad Mark Lawson was already on here. I think he would've been a good Lucky too. 

Lol I dunno, that doesn't seem to be a deterrent for Roger Howarth, so you never know

1 hour ago, FrenchBug82 said:

On the other hand, a lot of the problem with the writing comes down to the fact it is only 22min. The incestuous cast, the very bizarre pacing, the unbalanced way characters and stories are played...
I bet B&B would be a vastly superior soap if it did full episodes.

I don't know about that. I think those problems could be resolved by making the Forrester world less insular, and by making the setting of LA more of a character unto itself. Brad doesn't seem to understand the basic principles of A-B-C storytelling patterns, something his dad mastered easily at both DAYS and Y&R, and even early B&B to a lesser degree. I mean, I think if Labine/Meyer could make RH work with NYC as a setting, Bell should be able to in LA. Giving him an hour will likely just put a spotlight on his shortcomings further, IMO.

1 hour ago, FrenchBug82 said:

Actually I think the years immediately after the possession were MY favorite modern era (95-98ish). Kristen, Sami, Vivian era as I call it was just pure soap. OTT at times but in a funny camp way (and less nonsensical than the possession). But everything was firing on all cylinders and the stories crossed in ways that made sense.
Then VERY shortly afterwards - 1998-1999 the show went to absolute hell (Garden of Eden, anyone?) and while there has been definitely bursts of interesting stuff and cool storylines since, it has never consistently reached the coherent soap goodness that was last seen in the mid 90s IMO
Some people will probably be more nostalgic for the adventure eras of the 80s with all the iconic supercouples but I never warmed to that type of soap so I am not the target audience for it.

I'd also argue, from what I've read (and been gripped by), 1966-77 Bell/PFS era was some brilliant soap as well. I confess, I find the supercouple era goofy and corny, but you can't deny the warmth and great characters and relationships of that era, either.

That's it. And I've always found a half hour show easier to get sucked into. Smaller cast, smaller scope. Fewer names to remember, tighter stories, and it leaves you with JUST enough at the end of 20-or-so minutes to leave you wanting more. IMO, it's a BIG reason why B&B has maintained its audience so well over the years in relation to many of the other soaps (quality of Brad's "writing" notwithstanding).

The other shows would do well to pare down similarly.

6 minutes ago, KMan101 said:

 

Yeah, it was like the air was let out of the balloon/tire, so to speak LOL. It was like they gave up and simply reunited Wilson and wrote them off. I know Christopher Sean left but I still question the total missed potential of Will/Paul/Sonny. 

 

I can't even count on two hands the missed potential DAYS has wasted over the years. I don't get my show sometimes. Even Twitter is seeing that not much substance is here to be found, nothing really matters and it's almost like the show has been in a holding pattern for years.

 

Hopefully having a longer renewal allows them some room to mix things up.

 

And I have to say, as a writer, Ron is a massive tease. I know some of it is budget restrictions and poor management but still ... 

 

The show has the cast and potential. Story ideas, on paper, aren't bad. But the execution often lacks. I don't feel like these soaps have time to waste anymore, if you will.

And you just nailed why I tuned out awhile ago and watch classics instead now. I realized a year or so into Ron's run, almost NOTHING matters long-term. Why should I invest in a story if I know it's not going to significantly impact anything six months from now?

6 minutes ago, AdelaideCate007 said:

I have about 30 episodes from between around 1975 to 1977. All in pretty bad condition so I'm not sure they're really worth posting without trying to really clean them up. The ones pre-Quartermaine and Spencer families are pretty bad. It does seem like the show was just trying anything to get a character off the ground. It's jarring to see Lesley, Jessie Steve, and Audrey and a cast of long forgotten characters lol. You can definitely see why they ran with people like Laura, Alan, Monica, Bobbie, Luke and Tracy once they realised they had something there.

Honestly, if you know of a way or place that can clean them up, I'd say do it. If expense is the issue, considering the rarity of the episodes, it may well be worth crowdfunding it, because I guarantee a LOT of fans would be grateful!

Regardless of the quality of the writing hahah.

59 minutes ago, Liberty City said:

 

It's about to become a wasted opportunity. Mark my words.

No question.

1 minute ago, victoria foxton said:

A shady flaming flamboyant 18 yrs Spencer would've been a blast.

Right? But if we get it, I'll eat my hat.

45 minutes ago, Liberty City said:

 

Living in California with mommy and daddy, who should be recast. The fact Robin hasn't made an inkling of fighting for Chief of Staff at General Hospital is unrealistic, IMHO.

Have Robin come back, with Patrick, Emma & Noah, and fight to take over Britt's position.

LOLOLOL WUT?

I'm not one for being precious about who plays whom on soaps, but there are some roles that you just, could not, and should not recast. File this one in the trash bin for me.

59 minutes ago, Vee said:

Can't wait for Spencer to turn out to be 100% str8 after pinging across the depths of galactic space his entire childhood

Gotta make sure we protect the delicate sensibilities of Gladys and Ethel in Kansas, of course. 

1 hour ago, j swift said:

Can someone catch me up?  As a baby didn't Johnny have an issue with his eyes?  I recall him needing an operation, or there was an accident, but definitely something related to his eyes.

Eye cancer, if I remember correctly. I'm not sure if he has one glass eye or something, but I definitely remember it was cancer (which was promptly forgotten about).

In fact, IIRC, it was basically a plot device to temper the animosity between EJ and Sami after the baby switch/kidnapping story ended.

On 6/10/2021 at 12:44 PM, Brent said:

Help Requested:

 

Vis a vis the "Where the Heart Is," and supplemental audio material, need some technological advice.

 

Have had a local electronics shop transfer the tape to a CD, however, we do not have a CD drawer on our laptop.

 

How can my brother capture the applicable soap segments from the CD and translate/transfer them into a collective format that can be sent to and accessed by the SON Community? Your help sorely needed. 

 

All Best,

 

Brent C.

I'm certain there's external CD drives you can purchase that connect to the laptop via USB. I'd be excited to hear what you have, hopefully this works for you!

Love the photos @Paul Raven, I know some have obviously been seen here and there, but it's always nice to have them crop up! James Mitchell was fine back in the day, I tell ya!

1 hour ago, pdm1974 said:

Sounds like the same thing happened to Edge of Night and Ryan's Hope...less and less clearance...and of course, smaller ratings as a resullt.

 

I do wonder if a new soap ever got launched again (which of course is doubtful) that if a show like Edge of Night that targeted men and women viewers with a focus on mystery/crime would work. Or even a Dark Shadows reboot. I think a new soap would need a very high concept to get attention.

I think, to do that, networks would have to really put their foot down about clearing the shows. Because honestly, at this point, if you're not at near-full clearance, you'd be lucky to clear 1M viewers.

Regardless, it's not gonna happen on broadcast TV, that's for certain. That ship has well and truly sailed, IMO.

17 minutes ago, pdm1974 said:

I never really watched SFT, but I wonder, what, if anything, could have saved the show.

Realistically, more consistency behind the scenes, and, barring having stayed on CBS, they really needed to have higher station clearances. I think someone mentioned upthread how much of a self-fulfilling prophecy that was. The lower the ratings, the lower the clearances, the lower the interest from the network, the lower the ratings would sink, and the cycle continues.

2 minutes ago, Soapsuds said:

He/she was harassing posters that's why she/he got banned. She is now on YouTube harassing people. She or he was on the live chat during the Melanie Smith and Mary Ellen reunion. 

Oh I saw. Had her on mute after awhile so I wouldn't have to see her posts, too. She was BRUTAL.

Imagine having that much time on your hands and choosing to use it like...that.  Can someone break into her house and find the rest of those ratings she had in her basement? LOL

Yeah, as much as I enjoy Gary Tomlin's writing at times, everything I've heard of his AW run screams incompetence.

3 hours ago, Soapsuds said:

IT would be nice if we got more 80s ratings. We still need all of 1988 and 1989 up to July.

Right? Too bad about JFPVanessaReardon's hissy fit over being given a warning  or we could've had them by now. Oh well.

56 minutes ago, Vee said:

 

As I'm pretty sure you were told the last time you made this exact same point, people have been clowning Easton's endless characters for years on this forum. Same goes for Roger. Neither need to be on the show.

 

It is a disgrace that these two men have had 3-4 different contract roles on GH, a show they were imported onto and forced into frontburner roles over and over, while many of its veterans or key players can't get a contract or solid story. There's no excuse for that, at all. It's cronyism. I watched OLTL for 20 years, I loved a lot of Howarth's work on that show, it's my #1 soap of all time. None of that matters. There's no excuse.

+1000

It's farcical at this point.

On 5/15/2021 at 3:33 AM, Paul Raven said:

Well. from 4 years of stories, some things that come to mind.Would love to know what you think!

Rachel became aware someone was buying up her artwork and discovered it was her father Gerald who was dying and wanted to re-unite.

He came to Bay City with a handsome young assistant Ryan that he treated like a son. Rachel had to decide whether to trust her father again and sought advice from Mac and Ada. Father and daughter drew closer. Ironically Gerald was also estranged from Pam and Rachel encouraged her father to reach out to her, which he did.

Rachel had to form a relationship with Pam, which proved difficult as Pam was jealous of Rachel's successes.

It turned out that Ryan and Pam were lovers and had plotted for Ryan to get close to Gerald to inherit his money (he had become a successful hotelier since his release from jail)

Once accepted by the Corys, Pam began to mellow and no longer had the same motives. She fell in love with Mitch Blake. when she confesses to Ryan she slept with Mitch he nobly forgives her.

Ryan, knowing Pam was moving away from him doubled down and got her to marry him, leaving Mitch in the lurch. When Gerald collapses, Ryan doesn't intervene but Gerald survives and Ryan worries Gerald will reveal that Ryan left him to die. However, Gerald dies without the truth coming out.

Pam suspects Ryan of killing her dad, bit is trapped by her past. She falls pregnant but loses the baby,

 

Ben returns to Bay City and wants to be with Marley. Marley is shaken by Ben's return and wavers b/w Marley and Jake but eventually chooses Jake. Ben and Vicky hook up for a time. When a baby boy is left at the McKinnons , Ben knows it is his from a relationship when he was out of town. Ben and Vicky grow apart as she isn't interested in being a surrogate mother to an infant.

 

Jamie returns and dates both his former girlfriends,MJ and Nicole, two very different women. He does sleep with Nicole, which MJ can't handle so Jamie and Nicole become a couple. However, that relationship is threatened when a Chad, a man from her druggie past arrives with lots of secrets (call girl/porn tape etc) to blackmail her with.

Chad gets involved with Vicky after she drops Ben and Nicole is upset but powerless to intervene as Chad threatens to reveal her misdeeds. Chad 's past catches up with him as he tries to clean up his act but can't.

Although in a sexual relationship with Vicky he forces himself on her and she realizes she's been raped.

She presses charges and Chad's past is revealed. Jamie splits with Nicole over her lies.

 

MJ has a new police partner Matt who is quite hostile to her but they grow close when he is falsely accused during an investigation, Matt reveals he's married with a young son but estranged. MJ has to deal with that but when Joanne, Matt;s wife pleads with her to step aside she does and returns to Jamie, after breaks with Nicole.

Jamie and MJ agree to marry but on the wedding day Matt arrives and tells MJ he can't forget her. He tried to make things work with Joanne but he 's going too divorce. MJ tells Jamie she can't go through with the wedding.

Hurt and distressed, Jamie leaves town.

 

Quinn becomes involved with Reece, Michael's business partner. However, Reece is a bit of a  playboy and cheats on Quinn, he decides she can't deal with this and they split. Dennis returns and get's involved with Quinn, but Quinn realizes she really loves Reece and they marry, leaving Dennis to hook up with Vicky, now over her ordeal with Chad.

 

Felicia and Zane are happily married but that causes her creative juices to dry up and she;s unable to write.

Jonathan, a new publicist at Cory turns out to be obsessed and ends up kidnapping her and Felicia has to fight to survive. Eventually she escapes and she and Zane re-unite, omly for Zane to be diagnosed with prostate cancer. Felicia stand by her man as they battle the disease.

 

If you're interested I'll post more about Michael and Donna, and others.

Also Y and R.

 

 

I like a lot of what I'm hearing. I'd love to see more, and for Y&R as well. MJ was done so wrong by DePriest, I much prefer your direction. And anything better than killing off Quinn. I'm assuming Chad is Chad Rollo, or did you use the same name on a different character?

I did a similar treatment for DAYS starting in 1979 (as a number of you have read, it's in the blog section), but I find myself very overstretched with different projects and gave up early on.

I like the idea of going back in time to try and write around the rules of life in a past time frame. Our lives are so connected now with technology and whatnot, that a lot of things that could be done now cannot be done then, and vice versa. I had Steve Olson involved in a bigamy story with his Parisian girlfriend Mimi and Mary Anderson, who he married to get at that sweet sweet Anderson $$$, whereas nowadays one quick google search and a phone call would upend that in about five minutes.

 I also really enjoyed touching on topical issues of that time that wouldn't be considered that cutting edge today (I had Doug & Julie struggling to conceive, which had been hinted at on the show at the time, so Neil suggests IVF, which was, of course, brand new technology at the time), and playing the emotional complexity and fears of the new procedure. 

I'd be intrigued to do a treatment for Y&R as well, maybe going back to 1980 or 82 when the Abbots really come into play, and maybe seeing what I could do if I continued on with the Brooks and Fosters instead. Who knows what my brain may come up with!